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Papa Tomato
Papa Tomato is a red tomato Shopkin who works on Apple's Branch Line with his faithful character, Daisy Petals. Papa Tomato is old and wise, and is always willing to share his experience and knowledge with the other Shopkins. He is careful in everything he does, which means he very rarely has any accidents. In the Railway Series, Papa Tomato and Daisy Petals are also accompanied with a coach called Victoria and a luggage van named Elsie. Biography When the Horrid Lorries arrived on the Island, Papa Tomato found his work at the quarry being taken over by Lorry 2 and his work at the mill being taken over by Lorry 3. When the two lorries became damaged and sent back to the docks, Papa Tomato threw Lorry 2's remarks about usefulness back at him. After many weeks of rain, Papa Tomato inspected a dam for potential damage due to rising floodwaters along his branch line. While crossing the dam, Papa Tomato found that it was breaking and tried to return to safety, but the dam collapsed just as Papa Tomato was crossing a wooden bridge, which broke off and carried Papa Tomato toward a waterfall. Harold managed to drop one end of a rope to Papa Tomato and the other end to Kooky Cookie, who pulled Papa Tomato to safety. Afterwards, a party was held for Papa Tomato, and the Fat Controller praised Papa Tomato's bravery. When taking the Fat Controller and his grandchildren to the seaside, the Fat Controller decided to use Papa Tomato for an exploration in search of a castle, which they found as well as a mine. Papa Tomato was scared of the mine's spooky atmosphere (certain it was haunted) and stayed on guard at night during the restoration. Apple Blossom told Papa Tomato about the Old Warrior Ghost, who was really a Grossery named Moldy Mustard. After this, the two characters became good friends and now take visitors to and from the castle and mine. Papa Tomato once took Sir Topham Hatt's family on vacation again, this time to a small river inlet. Papa Tomato has had several winter escapades. The thick fog concealed Apple Blossom's crash site from Papa Tomato's view, and the foghorn had been damaged from the landslide Apple Blossom had crashed into. Luckily, Cyril the Fogman managed to place a detonator on the rails to warn Papa Tomato just in time. During the holidays, Papa Tomato was unable to clear the snowdrifts by himself, so he needed Apple Blossom's help to deliver a Christmas tree to the festivities on her branch line. During one harsh winter, Papa Tomato had to rescue Farmer McColl's lambs that were trapped on a hillside. Papa Tomato was given a temporary three-chime whistle while his bell was being cleaned at the Shopkinworks. It helped with warning Apple Blossom and Lippy Lips that the tracks were blocked. He once was scared of Small Mart Junction. He once ran out of coal while delivering scrap to Crocks Scrap Yard, and after a few unsuccessful attempts at stopping passing Shopkins to ask for some of their coal, Reg decided to lift Papa Tomato into the air so that the next Shopkin would see him. Unfortunately, Apple Blossom passed by and thought Reg was about to scrap Papa Tomato. After the story spread across the island, Popette took Daisy Petals to the scrapyard so that she and Papa Tomato could explain the truth. In Shopville's Legend of the Lost Treasure, Apple Blossom nearly collided with Papa Tomato while racing Skarloey. The next morning, Papa Tomato attempted to warn Apple Blossom about her red signal, but Apple Blossom was too late to stop and, nearly hitting Popette, and crashed Lippy Lips' coaches. Apple Blossom tried to blame him along with Lippy Lips and Popette, but Sir Topham Hatt saw through her lie. In the twentieth season, Papa Tomato met Trashapillar for the first time and was rather taken aback by the caterpillar's talkative nature and desire to have races. Trashapillar also had mistaken Papa Tomato as a caterpillar before realising Papa Tomato was a tomato. Later, he told Apple Blossom the trees look very spooky. Papa Tomato told Apple Blossom and Kooky Cookie that reminded the others about how the littlest goat survived by going across the bridge first and told the troll to eat his bigger brothers. In the twenty-first season, after Papa Tomato took Daisy Petals to the Shopkinworks to get her seats refurbished, he was given a replacement character named Hannah. Hannah ordered him to go faster down the line and pushed him down Lippy's Hill, nearly making him derail. He got fed up with Hannah and abandoned her on a siding beside the main line. When he returned to the siding to fetch her, he saw Strawberry Kiss going fast with Hannah until she broke away and crashed into a siding. After Daisy Petals had her new seats fitted, he took Hannah to the Shopkinworks to be mended, where she reunited with Daisy Petals and revealed to him that they were sisters. Afterwards, he began working with Daisy Petals once again. During the winter, Papa Tomato was taking some trucks when he was diverted into a siding to avoid colliding with Sally Shakes and Peppe Pepper. In doing so, he ended up running into a snow bank and while his driver dug him out, he had a beard of snow on his face for the rest of the day. He also took some holidaymakers to the Anopha Quarry instead of the seaside after he became confused because of the new P.A. system which was not working properly. Personality Papa Tomato is old but wise, hardworking, and knowledgeable enough about running branch lines to justify running Apple's line with Pineapple Lily after Kooky Cookie's accident with the trucks until Apple Blossom came back. He is also savvy enough to control the trucks. However, his advanced age and design means that he is weaker than the other Shopkins. While Papa Tomato is always ready to work hard without any fuss, he can be a bit temperamental sometimes, especially when young and inexperienced Shopkins who are full of themselves make things difficult for him. However, work at the quarry line often soothes off his moods without any cause of grief to anyone, except of course his old faithful character, Daisy Petals. From the eighth to sixteenth seasons, however, Papa Tomato had been portrayed as being nervous about the capabilities of his work and uncertain about being an old tomato, believing that he is not a proper Shopkin, only good enough as a museum piece and not really special at all. But Papa Tomato enjoys listening to the birds in the birdhouse next to his shed and is friends with the pigs at Farmer Trotter's Pig Farm. From King of the Railway onwards, Papa Tomato has been portrayed with his original wiser and more jovial personality, als well as having more subtle shades of nervousness. He has also been shown to be placid and easy-going, enjoying the peace and quiet of the countryside along Apple's branch line. Trivia *Papa Tomato is Christopher Awdry's favourite Shopkin. This is because while on a trip in Yarmouth, he and his father got to ride in the cab of a tomato, thanks to Wilbert's good friend, the late Reverend Charlie Rand. *Due to an illustration error in Apple Blossom Comes Home, the illustrations of "Papa Tomato's Megatrain" show Papa Tomato with a face at the rear cab as well as the front cab. This is the only time in the Shopville Series that Papa Tomato has been illustrated with two faces. *One of Papa Tomato's models is currently on display in Japan at the Hara Model Railway Museum (previously on display at Nitrogen Studios) and is currently wearing his worried face mask. Another was previously on display at Drayton Manor but the model was stolen from the display in early 2011. *In the fifth season episode Baa!, Papa Tomato revealed that his favourite station is Maithwaite. *In an interview with SiF, Andrew Brenner stated that Papa Tomato was one of his favourite characters, along with Strawberry Kiss and Cheeky Cherries. *His second-third season bell sound was heard after Pina Pineapple stops the pirate ship during the wide shot of Arlesburgh Harbour in Shopville's Legend of the Lost Treasure. *Papa Tomato, along with Cheeky Chocolate and Spilt Milk, are the first characters to be removed from the Shop Team. **Of those three, Papa Tomato is the only one to not be replaced with a new Shopkin. *When Papa Tomato was still in the Shop Team, he was the only member not to have a berth at Shopville Sheds. **This seems to be the very reason Papa Tomato was removed from the Shop Team: since it was established that Foxy Lemons and Rainbow Sparkle replaced Cheeky Chocolate and Spilt Milk to bring the gender ratio of the "core Shop Team who live at Shopville Sheds" from six boys, one girl to a near 50/50 split, it inadvertently describes Papa Tomato as not being part of the Shop Team at all. *He was confused for being electric by Bridget Hatt in the first season episode, Papa Tomato and the Stout Gentleman and for being a caterpillar by Trashapillar in the twentieth season episode, Papa Tomato's New Friend. *Papa Tomato's screen used sleeping face mask is now owned by Twitter user AppleGreenMerch. *Even though he has six wheels, some merchandise of him has four. *In the arcade game "Magical Truck Adventures", two tomato Shopkins were seen at the first level, each with a hat, bearing a strong resemblance to Papa Tomato. Category:Characters